Protecting The Sacredness of Bear Butte: 'Owekchiza Ikipi" (Worth Fighting For)
The Issue
Opening Statement;
Here we are again making a decision on how we can protect the sacredness of Bear Butte. Again the Biker bars are getting closer and closer to Bear Butte. Lakota’s and other local tribes hold Bear Butte a sacred place we have come here to pray for many years, we come here to “Hamblecha” (Vision Quest) before we Sundance. For the last ten years we have been called to come and protect this sacred place and there has been many meetings, protest rally’s Lots of frustrations because these people don’t care about us and our spirituality all they care about is Money, Beer and the big party! What must we do to protect this sacred site from the encroachment of sleazy Biker Bars around its base? The noise, chaotic energy, increased human presence, and subsequent pollution caused by the development around Bear Butte currently make it increasingly difficult for the silence so necessary in meditative prayer.
The sacredness of the Black Hills is almost completely profaned. The sacredness of Bear Butte is in peril again. As many may remember a few years back we fought "Jay Allen" who started this Venue, and it failed! It has been limited to a glorified camp ground for the last few years and was tolerable at best. Now after Full throttle “The self proclaimed largest biker bar burnt to the ground “Michael Ballard" has purchased this venue (Broken Spoke Campground) only Two miles from Bear Butte!
What can we do now? What must we do? We may need to fight for Bear Butte! We need to stop Mead County! Or they will just continue to push us out! We will call on all activist groups to make this stand! All options are on the table! It must be stopped! We will not ask mead County for permission and we will march where we choose to march! If we must get arrested then so be it!
What is Bear Butte; (Native History)
On the Northeastern edge of the Black Hills, just a few miles from the small town of Sturgis, off Highway 34, is one of the most sacred mountains to the Plains Indians from the United States and Canada.
Up to 60 different tribes traveled to Bear Butte to fast and pray. Separated by about 8 miles of prairie from the greater Black Hills, which are also considered sacred by these same nations of people, Bear Butte looks like a sleeping bear lying on its side with its head pointed toward the northeast.
Today, people from all over the world come to Bear Butte to pray, to meditate, to try to experience some of the spiritual connection that has been there from the beginning of time.
More than 4,000 years ago, a Cheyenne man named Sweet Medicine received guidance and gifts for the Cheyenne people at Bear Butte. Today, the Cheyenne people continue to come to Bear Butte to fast and pray. Some of the Southern Cheyenne must travel hundreds of miles from Oklahoma where they were displaced by the United States cavalry in the late 1800s when the Cheyenne nation was under threat of extinction.
All the tribes of the Sioux people: Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota, came to Bear Butte to pray...and still do. The months of May, June, and July will see families camped at the base while a relative is standing on the side of the mountain fasting in deep meditation. Small colored pieces of cloth containing pinches of tobacco are wrapped around trees and bushes as prayer gifts to the Creator. Larger flags of red, white, black, or yellow, the sacred colors, also are tied to trees to carry the prayers to all the directions.
Bear Butte, the mountain proper, is currently a National Historic Landmark managed by the South Dakota Game Fish and Parks Department.
What we do there during the summer months; (Sundance Season)
A Native American person usually undertakes a vision quest in an isolated area, generally without food or water. The "seeker" remains isolated as long as it takes to achieve the desired goal; the quest may last up to three or four days.
Quest design varies according to the tribe's culture and the purpose for seeking a vision. A successful vision quest will produce contact with a spirit helper or guide. This guide’s presence is often signaled by a visionary experience or contact with an animal.
All men and women can "cry for a vision" or what Black Elk calls "lament," but only the worthy will receive one. To undertake a Vision Quest in the proper way, a Wicasa Wakan - Holy Man - should advise the seeker and interpret the vision. The most important reason for the Vision Quest is so a person can understand better his/her oneness with all things and gain knowledge of the Great Spirit.
A person undertaking a Vision Quest first goes with a filled pipe to the holy man. He enters and asks that the holy man be his guide and prays for him. Everyone present smokes the Pipe. The Inipi ceremony is conducted to purify them. Traditionally, the seeker builds the sweat lodge by himself.
The seeker then takes his pipe and some tobacco and goes to his isolated place, often on a high mountain or bluff. Helpers go ahead to prepare the sacred place. The seeker stays at the sacred place and prays for a vision. Visions often come to the seeker in the form of an animal, and dreams carry the most powerful visions. At the end of the Vision Quest, the helpers return and take the seeker back to the sweat lodge. The seeker tells all he has seen and heard to the Wicasa.
What we are petitioning for?
1) We want to stop the encrochment around Bear Butte.
2) We want a 3-mile buffer zone applied around the base of Bear Butte from Live Outdoor concerts and large bar venues. And we want them enforced if not we will enforce them.
3) We want to “STOP” The attempt to build such a noisy, destructive, alcohol & Drug induced playground near such a pristine, beautiful and sacred site is blasphemy and sacrilegious.
4) We demand the state of South Dakota take measures to stop their citizens from trying to build offensive, disruptive, obnoxious and detrimental enterprises near Bear Butte and all/any Venues such as these at the base of Bear Butte. Your people would not want to see these venues next to their churches, the Wailing Wall, or even Mt Rushmore etc.
We encourage concerned Native peoples and Supporters to share this petition and to let the world know of this flagrant violation of Article VI of the Constitution, the 1851 Treaty, and people’s right to gather, pray, seek solitude, and maintain their culture without disruption and annoyance.
United Urban Warrior Society
605-381-8612
P.O. Box 14
Rapid City, South Dakota 57709-0014
unitedurbanwarriorsociety@yahoo.com
http://unitedurbanwarriorsocietyworld.jimdo.com
Petition Closed
The Issue
Opening Statement;
Here we are again making a decision on how we can protect the sacredness of Bear Butte. Again the Biker bars are getting closer and closer to Bear Butte. Lakota’s and other local tribes hold Bear Butte a sacred place we have come here to pray for many years, we come here to “Hamblecha” (Vision Quest) before we Sundance. For the last ten years we have been called to come and protect this sacred place and there has been many meetings, protest rally’s Lots of frustrations because these people don’t care about us and our spirituality all they care about is Money, Beer and the big party! What must we do to protect this sacred site from the encroachment of sleazy Biker Bars around its base? The noise, chaotic energy, increased human presence, and subsequent pollution caused by the development around Bear Butte currently make it increasingly difficult for the silence so necessary in meditative prayer.
The sacredness of the Black Hills is almost completely profaned. The sacredness of Bear Butte is in peril again. As many may remember a few years back we fought "Jay Allen" who started this Venue, and it failed! It has been limited to a glorified camp ground for the last few years and was tolerable at best. Now after Full throttle “The self proclaimed largest biker bar burnt to the ground “Michael Ballard" has purchased this venue (Broken Spoke Campground) only Two miles from Bear Butte!
What can we do now? What must we do? We may need to fight for Bear Butte! We need to stop Mead County! Or they will just continue to push us out! We will call on all activist groups to make this stand! All options are on the table! It must be stopped! We will not ask mead County for permission and we will march where we choose to march! If we must get arrested then so be it!
What is Bear Butte; (Native History)
On the Northeastern edge of the Black Hills, just a few miles from the small town of Sturgis, off Highway 34, is one of the most sacred mountains to the Plains Indians from the United States and Canada.
Up to 60 different tribes traveled to Bear Butte to fast and pray. Separated by about 8 miles of prairie from the greater Black Hills, which are also considered sacred by these same nations of people, Bear Butte looks like a sleeping bear lying on its side with its head pointed toward the northeast.
Today, people from all over the world come to Bear Butte to pray, to meditate, to try to experience some of the spiritual connection that has been there from the beginning of time.
More than 4,000 years ago, a Cheyenne man named Sweet Medicine received guidance and gifts for the Cheyenne people at Bear Butte. Today, the Cheyenne people continue to come to Bear Butte to fast and pray. Some of the Southern Cheyenne must travel hundreds of miles from Oklahoma where they were displaced by the United States cavalry in the late 1800s when the Cheyenne nation was under threat of extinction.
All the tribes of the Sioux people: Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota, came to Bear Butte to pray...and still do. The months of May, June, and July will see families camped at the base while a relative is standing on the side of the mountain fasting in deep meditation. Small colored pieces of cloth containing pinches of tobacco are wrapped around trees and bushes as prayer gifts to the Creator. Larger flags of red, white, black, or yellow, the sacred colors, also are tied to trees to carry the prayers to all the directions.
Bear Butte, the mountain proper, is currently a National Historic Landmark managed by the South Dakota Game Fish and Parks Department.
What we do there during the summer months; (Sundance Season)
A Native American person usually undertakes a vision quest in an isolated area, generally without food or water. The "seeker" remains isolated as long as it takes to achieve the desired goal; the quest may last up to three or four days.
Quest design varies according to the tribe's culture and the purpose for seeking a vision. A successful vision quest will produce contact with a spirit helper or guide. This guide’s presence is often signaled by a visionary experience or contact with an animal.
All men and women can "cry for a vision" or what Black Elk calls "lament," but only the worthy will receive one. To undertake a Vision Quest in the proper way, a Wicasa Wakan - Holy Man - should advise the seeker and interpret the vision. The most important reason for the Vision Quest is so a person can understand better his/her oneness with all things and gain knowledge of the Great Spirit.
A person undertaking a Vision Quest first goes with a filled pipe to the holy man. He enters and asks that the holy man be his guide and prays for him. Everyone present smokes the Pipe. The Inipi ceremony is conducted to purify them. Traditionally, the seeker builds the sweat lodge by himself.
The seeker then takes his pipe and some tobacco and goes to his isolated place, often on a high mountain or bluff. Helpers go ahead to prepare the sacred place. The seeker stays at the sacred place and prays for a vision. Visions often come to the seeker in the form of an animal, and dreams carry the most powerful visions. At the end of the Vision Quest, the helpers return and take the seeker back to the sweat lodge. The seeker tells all he has seen and heard to the Wicasa.
What we are petitioning for?
1) We want to stop the encrochment around Bear Butte.
2) We want a 3-mile buffer zone applied around the base of Bear Butte from Live Outdoor concerts and large bar venues. And we want them enforced if not we will enforce them.
3) We want to “STOP” The attempt to build such a noisy, destructive, alcohol & Drug induced playground near such a pristine, beautiful and sacred site is blasphemy and sacrilegious.
4) We demand the state of South Dakota take measures to stop their citizens from trying to build offensive, disruptive, obnoxious and detrimental enterprises near Bear Butte and all/any Venues such as these at the base of Bear Butte. Your people would not want to see these venues next to their churches, the Wailing Wall, or even Mt Rushmore etc.
We encourage concerned Native peoples and Supporters to share this petition and to let the world know of this flagrant violation of Article VI of the Constitution, the 1851 Treaty, and people’s right to gather, pray, seek solitude, and maintain their culture without disruption and annoyance.
United Urban Warrior Society
605-381-8612
P.O. Box 14
Rapid City, South Dakota 57709-0014
unitedurbanwarriorsociety@yahoo.com
http://unitedurbanwarriorsocietyworld.jimdo.com
The Decision Makers
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on April 27, 2016